The Harmony Mural

I few days ago I found some old photographs I had taken of a mural I did in 1993, during college. It was a project I was chosen to do, after submitting a proposal.


The day the local Newspaper photographed it and interviewed me, there was an African-American woman sitting at the cafeteria when it was hung and she happened to be studding to be a nurse, just like the one on in the mural, which was a nice coincidence. The girl in the red dress I took out of an image that I used in on of my paintings. The Japanese Ballet dancer was inspired by a girl I met in Dance class. The fighter pilot was a good friends daughter, the suit she is wearing belonged to her stepfather and that same year the first female fighter pilot was announced.


The Native American is a friend of mine (she is Navajo), who agreed to pose for some photographs, and I picked this one, because she looked proud and majestic, much different from the submissive depictions of the past. She came to see the mural before I delivered it to the college and she loved her portrait, so that was very rewarding to me.


I envisioned "Women in Harmony", as a group of women, in a great big room (earth), living in harmony. If only life could imitate art, all the problems on earth would be resolved. It was chosen and I got the materials and worked on it in the living room of my apartment.


I worked mostly from photographs, since I had too little kids by then and it was easier to work at home and I painted mostly at night when they were asleep. On the floor were different symbols depicting religions around the world. I placed painting on the wall of the room, showing a time lime, from ancient times, to the days of the dreadful corsets, to slavery, the beginning of the woman's liberation and finally a blind woman graduating from college. The mural measured 12 feet long by 6 feet high. I wish I had the rest of the photographs, since the mural wasn't quite finished when I took these.